Forgotten realms

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Current logo of the Forgotten Realms (from D&D Edition 3)

The Forgotten Realms (in the original Forgotten Realms ) are a fictional campaign world for the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons .

history

introduction

As the successor to the first D&D world Greyhawk , the Forgotten Realms soon achieved cult status, were continuously expanded and further developed over the course of 20 years and are still considered the most detailed game world of all. It is a campaign world based on the European Middle Ages , inhabited by magicians and other powerful beings, for example. This western part of the continent Faerûn on the planet Abeir-Toril has the dimensions of America and offers everything from archmages to unscrupulous secret societies, from dragons to the notorious drow (dark elves) in the sub-kingdom, all the ingredients of a classic fantasy setting.

More broadly among the forgotten rich some game world extensions that published for the second round of (A) D & D: Kara-Tur , a Far Eastern game world, the area of the tray , a wild of nomadic peoples occupied region between Faerûn and Kara-Tur, Maztica , a continent west of Faerûn with a Central / South American flair, Al-Qadim , a region with an Arabic touch to the south of Faerûn and Netheril , an earlier age of Faerûn, during which great magical human realms covered the then known world.

1980s

In the 1980s, a then-unknown librarian by the name of Ed Greenwood attracted attention for repeatedly posting unusually detailed adventures and scenarios in role-playing publications. When TSR was looking for a new game world for AD&D and asked him for documents, it immediately received boxes of handwritten documents from him. Even today he continues to contribute new articles, novels and game world expansions, even if the Forgotten Realms are meanwhile being developed further by Wizards of the Coast . Several well-known computer role-playing games such as Baldur's Gate , Icewind Dale , Neverwinter Nights and Pool of Radiance are played in the Forgotten Realms (see also list of official D&D computer games ). In addition, numerous novels about the game world have been published, the best known are those by RA Salvatore .

Late 1980s to mid 1990s

After the introduction of the Forgotten Realms campaign , the first novel based on this game world was published in March 1987 with the title Darkwalker on Moonshae . In the following years, the series of novels started around the character Drizzt Do'Urden, written by RA Salvatore , which has appeared in more than 17 volumes to date and found itself several times on the New York Times bestseller list . In 1993 the Forgotten Realms were updated due to the second edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) rule system .

Late 1990s until today

In 1998 the most popular computer game adaptation of the Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, appeared . The third edition of the Forgotten Realms was published in 2001 with the third edition of the AD&D rule system from Wizards of the Coast , which the insolvent TSR had bought out in 1997 . This edition won the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game Supplement of 2001 in 2002.

In August 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced a new version of the campaign world rules, which appeared in August 2008 as part of the changeover to the fourth edition of D&D. This change was treated literarily in the Transition Trilogy by RA Salvatore (a new trilogy of novels with the characters from the Drizzt novels).

The Forgotten Realms were partially radically changed, entire geographical regions disappeared and were replaced by regions from another world. The rich should become “more dramatic and fantastic”, as WotC announced. The magic system was also changed as a result and a number of deities fell away.

Publications

Novels and comics

For novels, see List of Forgotten Realms Novels and Forgotten Realms: The Forgotten Worlds (novel series) .

As a comic : Under Forgotten Realms - The Saga of the Dark Elf by RA Salvatore began a comic series in 2006 ( Panini Verlag , Volume 1: ISBN 3-8332-1388-4 ).

PC Games

Compare the list of official D&D computer games , many of the titles described there are played in the Forgotten Realms .

Mail game

Forgotten Realms: War of the Avatars (Reality Simulations) Origins Award 1994

Game world

Gamer peoples

The following are the most commonly chosen races for player characters. In addition, characters in the Forgotten Realms - as usual in D&D - have an orientation and belong to a class .

  • People
  • Elves (including wood elves and wild elves)
  • Eladrin (including moon elves and sun elves)
  • Drow
  • Dragonborn
  • Gnomes (rock gnomes and depth gnomes)
  • Goliath
  • Halflings (hobbits)
  • Half elves
  • Half orcs
  • Shifter (Longtooth and Razorclaw)
  • Dwarves (including shield, mountain and gold dwarfs)

The following races are humanoids, mostly half-human, who emerged from a union with a being from another level.

  • Devas (Celestial Touched)
  • Tiefling (Infernal Touched)
  • Genasi (earth soul, fire soul, storm soul, water soul and wind soul)

Drow (dark elves)

Drizzt Do'Urden

The drow (pronounced "Drou") are Elves creatures from the Underdark , a "world" under the surface we know the world. Originally they lived like the other elven tribes on the surface until they drove the drow into the underworld. They share this domain with, for example, Illithids and Duergar. The drow are generally malevolent, with ebony or dark gray skin, blood red, yellow, or purple eyes, and mostly white hair. One of their special abilities is the infravision (in the third edition of D&D only dark vision). Drow are usually organized in a matriarchy in which the men have almost no rights and which is run by the priestesses of the spider queen Lloth. In drow cities there are various noble houses that fight each other for power, both politically and with armed force. In some cases this even goes so far that some houses are destroyed.

All other races are inferior in the eyes of the Dark Elves and deserve either slavery or complete annihilation. The drow's mortal and hereditary enemy are the elves who live on the surface.

Well-known representatives of the drow are Drizzt Do'Urden, Zaknafein Do'Urden, Jarlaxle, Liriel Baenre and Nathyrra.

Rare and monster-like creatures

Most of the monsters in the Forgotten Realms come from the list of monsters in Dungeons & Dragons. Therefore, the creatures mentioned here can also occur in other worlds, but some species are a characteristic of the Forgotten Realms. These races are consistently evil and are therefore often counted in the category of "monsters", although some of them have built their own (albeit mostly primitive) civilization. Some others, on the other hand, are only to be found in certain areas or due to their small number.

Gods

The Forgotten Realms have a polytheistic community. Gods are an integral part of the world. They interact with mortals and answer prayers. They have numerous servants on the material plane in the form of believers, clerics, paladins, and elect. The elect are mortal believers who have received part of the power of their god and thereby appear as mortal representatives of the gods. Clerics, on the other hand, are granted spells by the gods they worship. Your duties and rights are recorded by Ao on the “tablets of fate”. Each god has a so-called “ portfolio ” that includes certain concepts, whereby they are divided into high, low and half gods based on the values ​​of power and influence.

Ao is the super-deity of the whole sphere. He stands above all other deities in every respect and, like them, does not depend on the worship of mortals. He can depose other deities or raise mortals to deities. Its job is to maintain the balance among the deities. For example, he triggered the “time of worry” in which he forced almost all gods to walk among mortals on the material plane. Since he usually does not deal with mortals and does not grant spells, he is almost never directly worshiped.

Dead gods have been destroyed due to an event such as the "Time of Sorrows" or have been forgotten due to a dwindling following, since gods also receive power through their entourage. Dead gods are in a kind of sleep state in another dimension and can theoretically - as was the case with Bane, for example - be awakened.

Deities of the general pantheon are predominantly worshiped by humans. a. a special elf, drow, dwarf, halfling, gnomish and orc pantheon and various other deities.

Underworld

Arch devils and demon princes, although they are "only" the most powerful representatives of their species, can also grant their worshipers clerical magic and answer prayers and ceremonies.

Hell, the home of the devils, extends into nine sub-levels in the Forgotten Realms. The rulers of the lower levels are ranked above the rulers of the upper levels. The leader of the ninth sub-level and thus ruler over all levels of hell is Asmodeus. All arch devils always strive for a rise in the hierarchy, which leads to numerous intrigues among one another. However, it is not known that Hell has been ruled by anyone other than its current ruler since the beginning of its existence.

In addition to Hell, there is a second level of evil, the Abyss. While hell is dominated by the righteous and thus more disciplined devils, the chaotic demons live in the Abyss. Like Hell, the Abyss is divided into several, but significantly more, sub-levels. At least 666 of these sub-levels are known. In contrast to Hell, there is no clear hierarchy in the Abyss due to the chaotic disposition of its inhabitants. Even the most powerful demons rule over a maximum of 3 sub-levels at the same time.

Both demons and devils are constantly striving to expand their sphere of influence. Besides their war against the good creatures of the outer planes, which are comparable to angels, and their constant endeavor to corrupt the souls of mortals, they openly wage war against one another. This war is also called the blood war and is mainly fought on the uppermost sub-levels of Hell and Abyss as well as on various other outer levels. The fact that the numerically clearly superior demons have not yet been able to win any of these conflicts is due to the fact that the various demon lords also wage war with one another.

Organizations

The Forgotten Realms are littered with organizations. Representing these groups, the following are listed that are of national importance.

  • The Iron Throne: An opaque trade organization that tries to expand its sphere of influence through political influence. Although a direct connection could never be proven, the iron throne was repeatedly brought into connection with criminal activities.
  • The Count's Alliance: This group is a loose association of the rulers of many cities in the north and in the western heartlands for the purpose of mutual help and protection.
  • The Flaming Fist: Faerûn's largest mercenary organization, based in Baldur's Gate.
  • The Harpers: The Harpers seek to maintain the balance of the Forgotten Realms.
  • The Heraldists / Heralds: This is an organization of historians, advisers and arbitrators on matters related to heraldry. They register and preserve the coats of arms of the nobles and not-so-nobles in the realms. Often they are called in as arbitrators on other issues of noble life. In order to fulfill these tasks, they have committed themselves to strict neutrality and impartiality.
  • The Dragon Cult: One of the largest organizations in the Forgotten Realms that believes in the prophecy of the great mage Sammaster that undead dragons will eventually rule all of Faerûn.
  • The Red Magi: A powerful organization of magicians from Thay that tries to gain money and power by selling cheap magical objects and has thus broken away from the centuries-old practice of a campaign of conquest.
  • The Shadow Thieves: A very influential group of thieves on the Sword Coast.
  • The Zentarim: A dark organization trying to gain power in the realms, originally a trading company.
  • The Silver Hand: A secret organization of exclusively female magicians, which, under the banner of the goddess Sêlune, has more and more hidden influence on the events in Toril and fights against the ever-widespread cult of Shar.

Web links

Commons : Forgotten Realms  - Collection of images, videos and audio files